


A Song in Ryl

by dieFabuliererin



Series: girls and boys [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Character Death, Clones, Episode: s03e03 Supply Lines, F/M, Planet Ryloth | Twi'lek, Poetic (kind of), Romance, Twi'leks (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27636247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dieFabuliererin/pseuds/dieFabuliererin
Summary: Captain Keeli had fallen, but he wasn't dead yet.
Relationships: Clone Troopers (Star Wars) & Original Female Character(s), Keeli (Star Wars)/Original Female Character
Series: girls and boys [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940242
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	A Song in Ryl

One.

The first shot hits him in the ribs, penetrating through plastoid and tearing through organic matter. One of his blasters drops to the ground, and Keeli grunts, trying to carry on.

He takes down a few more droids. His efforts are futile, but he and General Di need to buy the Twi'leks as much time as possible.

_Hurry up, supply ships._

Two.

The second shot hits him near his heart, and for a moment, Captain Keeli staggers.

His knees hit the dirt, and his remaining blaster rolls away, sending off a stray shot which hits a B1 in the head.

Lucky.

He knows he won't be getting up again, and his chest is uncomfortable tight. There's an impending sense of doom lingering over him as his eyes go half-lidded, yet his heart rattles on, trying desperately to keep him alive.

 _"This is Republic blockade runner oh-niner-niner."_ His General's comm crackles, _"We have broken through."_

Keeli lets out a relieved breath as he lies in the dirt. They did it. They held off the droids long enough for the Twi'leks to get the critical supplies they needed.

He can rest now.

"The Twi'leks will live to fight another day." General Di says, quietly enough for only Keeli to hear.

There are blaster shots all around him, and Keeli clenches his eyes closed to block out the sound of his General's screams. It's over for them, but it's not over for the Twi'leks.

There's a beat of silence, then, _"The supplies have arrived at the drop point."_

 _It's over_ , Keeli says to himself, feeling his limbs getting lighter as his life fades away, _it's over_.

He isn't sure how long he lays there, waiting for death to whisk him away. The afterlife has always been a touchy subject amongst his brothers.

Some believe there's an angel designated to each vod and she walks them to peace, whilst others believe in nothing but pure darkness, just like their lives before being brought out of their vats.

A few believe that the afterlife is like their nightmares, filled with fire and pain and suffering. A man in a dark cloak with a wrinkled face whispering in their ears, and the horrible sound of a ventilator echoing around them.

If Keeli had the strength, he would shudder.

Instead, he lies on the ground, feeling night and day shift around him. At night, it's colder and wet-nosed animals prod his stubbled cheeks, wanting to know when they are able to eat at his flesh. In the day, small lizards use the cracks and crevasses of his armour as hiding spots.

Why isn't he dead yet?

One day, he feels a shadow loom over him, blocking out the burning sun.

The soldier within him wants to grab his blasters and aim at the person standing over him, but of course, he's unable to move or open his eyes. All he can do is think and breathe.

There's the sound of someone kneeling in the dirt behind him, and then Keeli feels two hands on his shoulders, moving closer to his neck. His fingers twitch with the need to wrap his hands around the stranger's neck and choke the life out of them, but then he hears a voice.

"You are not dead?" It's a question more than a statement.

The voice is female, young, and the accent tells him that it's a Twi'lek.

 _Not yet_ , he wants to answer, _if you could stab me in the heart and move this along, that would be great._

Of course, he can't say anything.

Two fingers press against the side of his neck, "You are dying."

She sounds more definite this time.

The woman sighs, and Keeli feels his upper body being pulled upwards. The movement jerks his wounded chest, and he wants to scream but all he can manage is a quiet gasp.

"I am sorry." The woman apologises, settling his torso on her lap and cradling his head with one arm. "Better?"

Now he's got used to it, the new position isn't so bad. The sun isn't on his face anymore, and his muscles are finally being stretched.

Heck yeah, it feels fantastic!

A low chuckle fills the air, "You are smiling, soldier."

Fingers trace the patterns on the side of his head, and Keeli feels the tension ease out of his dying body. He wonders how long the mysterious woman will stay. He wants to know her name.

The hand moves to his jaw, twisting his head from side to side. Then, fingers run along his cheek, over his eyelid before pinching hard. Keeli tries to squirm away in discomfort, but her grip is firm.

"There are maggots in your eyes." The woman explains, moving onto his other eye and picking at it.

So, _that's_ what the crawling sensation is.

If maggots are festering in his eyes, then he must be as good as dead, right?

At least, she finishes, and Keeli sighs in relief as he's finally able to twitch his eyelids again. He tries to blink, immediately closing his eyes as the overexposure to light makes them burn.

After a few attempts, he's able to squint, and Keeli sees a green blob in front of him.

The Twi'lek woman, his fuzzy mind concludes.

"Is that better?" She asks, and he can't answer, so she carries on. "A soldier who died defending our people does not deserve to live his last minutes in darkness."

It's a peculiar sensation- being halfway between life and death.

He's been injured before, and a few times he's been hurt so bad that he didn't think he would make it, but he's never felt like this.

He's both heavy and light at the same time. Both exhausted and wide awake, aware to the world around him yet completely uncaring at the same time.

Bizarre.

Humming brings Keeli out of his thoughts. The arms around his shoulders start to move, rocking him from side to side as if he's a baby. He wishes his eyes would focus on the green blob, but he's too weak to move, so all he does is lay in the Twi'lek's arms as she starts to sing.

He doesn't know Ryl, but he knows it's a lullaby judging by the softness of her voice. It's odd, being sung to, but it's not an unpleasant experience.

In fact, Keeli finds it relaxing.

He closes his eyes again, finding the darkness warmer than before. He can still hear the woman's clear, accented voice, struggling to hit the high notes of the song but otherwise singing at a stable pitch.

Keeli wonders if she's sung for any other dead soldiers on the battlefield.

He hears the change in her voice as the song comes to an end, and judging by the faintness of his heartbeat, he knows it's his end too.

"Sleep now, soldier." The woman whispers between lines of gentle song, "I will hold you."

She lulls him to sleep with a song in Ryl.


End file.
